“Series!”

The Atlanta Hawks aren’t so brash to assume their skin-of-their-teeth Game 5 victory was enough to seize the momentum, once and for all, in this conference semifinal with the Washington Wizards. After all, Game 6 (7:00 PM Eastern, ESPN, 92.9 FM in ATL) is back in the Wizards’ house, Washington’s star John Wall appears to be all the way back, and the Hawks needed heroics from Al Horford just to win a pivotal game at home.

But the half-full view suggests the Hawks played some of their worst basketball of the season on Wednesday, scored a postseason-low 82 points, turned over the ball a franchise postseason high 25 times as a team, and still came up on the W side of the ledger when the final horn sounded.

These players know that better execution on offense and some screw-tightening on defense will help them go at least one level farther than they’ve ever personally gone before. They also know Washington won’t go quietly into the night in an elimination game on their home floor. Whether it’s one game (as Horford has demonstrated) or a playoff series, if these Atlanta Hawks want it, they have to go get it.

Technically, Paul Millsap’s been to this promised land called the Conference Finals before. He got a good taste of elite success as a rookie coming off the bench, behind Carlos Boozer, in the 2007 Western finals for Utah, with San Antonio assistant Mike Budenholzer scheming to slow his roll over the course of five games. Kyle Korver’s been near this mountaintop as well. After his Bulls dispatched the Hawks to reach the 2011 Eastern finals, he was lightly used by Tom Thibodeau (go figure) in favor of Ronnie Brewer and Keith Bogans, as Chicago fell in five games to LeBron James and fellow upstart Miami.

But that’s it, as far as experience goes (put your hand down, Austin Daye). No Hawks player that shows up on the Verizon Center floor tonight has experienced a major role in clinching a trip to a Conference Finals for their team. Paul Pierce most certainly has, and the Wizards forward will do all he can to remain a thorn in Atlanta’s side. It’s the Hawks’ job to extract him.

How badly will Korver and Millsap want it, tonight? They’ll need to be far more efficient on offense than they were on Wednesday (combined 7-for-19 FGs, 1-for-8 3FGs, three assists and nine turnovers). Millsap (25 points on 9-for-15 FGs, nine rebounds) put the lid on the road against the Nets in Game 6 of the quarterfinals, he and Korver (20 points on 6-for-8 3FGs) putting on a stunning display (facilitated by Jeff Teague) in the first and third quarters to sap the will out of Brooklyn.

How badly will Teague (seven turnovers in Game 5) want it, tonight? The opportunities for him to capitalize and seal up the series while John Wall was out of action are foregone, but it’s all for the better. Many observers are already crowing that the Hawks might only win this series because of Wall’s absence. It’s time for them to be convinced that Atlanta won this series because of Teague.

How badly does… well we don’t even have to ask in regards to DeMarre Carroll, do we? After carrying this team offensively for six consecutive playoff games (22.0 PPG, 62.0 FG%, 56.3 3FG%), DMC has cooled in the past three (9.7 PPG, 36.7 FG%, 22.2 3FG%). The Hawks need both Carroll and Korver to get better shots and connect. Just as important will be his (and Teague’s) ability to lead the transition defense.

With Wall back to key the break, Washington pulled a fast one early in Game 5 on runouts, and outscored the Hawks 25-20 on fastbreaks, often leaving Korver on an island defensively. The Hawks’ starting forwards have a decided quickness advantage over the Wizards, and it’s critical that Atlanta exploits it by picking up the pace in Game 6.

How bad does Al Horford want it? While we’ve looked askance at Hawks Basketball since 2008 as the Joe and Josh era, it was Horford’s introduction to the roster that has got Atlanta into the postseason ballpark for the first of eight consecutive seasons. Our first and our last (to date) playoff victories during this tenure come on the shoulders of Horford coming through in the clutch.

Keeping Al zeroed-in at mid-range, out-working Marcin Gortat on the glass is crucial tonight, as is his and Teague’s ability to out-master Wall and Gortat with the 1-5 pick-and-roll. A victory tonight can help redefine the Horford Era of Atlanta Hawks basketball.

How badly do our bench guys want it? It all comes down to defensive intensity for the reserves, as Mike Muscala (62.5 FG% this series) and Kent Bazemore (53.3 FG% this series) have begun to feel a groove on the other side of the ball. Mike Scott will likely get significant minutes spelling Millsap after being DNP’d the past two games. Will he show up prepared to box out on defense and help close out the series with some deadeye shooting?

As Teague deferred late in Game 5, Dennis Schröder (7 assists) played a valuable role setting the table for some big shots in the final quarter, and even helped defend Washington’s wings. Schröder merely has to avoid the bad habit of dribbling his way into traps on his drives and know his passing-lane options before he goes gung-ho at the rim.

Millsap and Horford have been more than capable in this series of minimizing Nene and Gortat’s effectiveness in the Wizard halfcourt offense. Atlanta’s wings, therefore, need to do a better job of closing out on the perimeter and avoid getting so enmeshed in the paint that they cannot recover. Paul Pierce’s would-be-game-winner in Game 5 would have been symbolic of this issue for Atlanta, but it’s noteworthy that in that game, Pierce’s teammates were just 1-for-11 from deep.

They’ve toiled away all season long, and now the Hawks can make history for themselves and their starving city tonight. There’s no need to wait for Sunday, a day that can be better used prepping for a visit from LeBron and company, instead of hosting the Wizards a third time. An unprecedented franchise achievement, a chance to go for even greater glory, and an opportunity to create a whole new legacy. For the 2014-15 Atlanta Hawks, all of it is right there for the taking, tonight.

Let’s Go Hawks!

~lw3